ORPINE FAMILY. 137 



11. ASTILBE. (Name means not, sinning .} Also called HOTE!A, after a 



Japanese botanist. Fl. summer. 11 



A. decandra. Rich woods along the Alleghanies from Virginia S. : a tall, 

 rather pubescent herb, 3 - 5 high, imitating Spiraea Aruncus (p. 121) in ap- 

 pcaranec, but coarser; leaflets of the decompound leaves mostly heart-shaped, 

 cut toothed (2' -4' long) ; flowers greenish-white, with inconspicuous petals. 



A. Japonica, or HOTKIA JAPONICA. Cult, from Japan for ornament: 

 only l-2 high, with leaflets of the thrice-tcrnate leaves lance-ovate or oblong, 

 and crowded white flowers of considerable beauty. 



12. TIARELLA, FALSE MITREWORT. (Diminutive of tiara, a tur- 

 ban ; name not very appropriate.) 2/ 



T. cordifblia, our only species, in rocky woods, especially N. : a low and 

 hairy herb, spreading bv summer leafy runners ; leaves rounded heart-shaped, 

 sharply lobcd and toothed ; flowers in a short raceme on a leafless scape, bright 

 white, in spring. 



13. MITELLA, MITREWORT, BISHOP'S-CAP. (Name means a lit- 

 tle mitre, from the shape of the 2-clcft ovary and young pod.) Delicate plants 

 of moist woods, especially N., spreading by summer leafy runners or root- 

 stocks : fl. late spring and early summer. *^ 



M. diphylla, COMMOX or TWO-LEAVED M. Hairy, with rounded heart- 

 shaped and somewhat 3 - 5-lobed root-leaves on slender* petioles, and a pair of 

 opposite nearly sessile leaves on the scape below the slender raceme of many 

 white flowers. 



M. nuda, NAKED-STALKED M. Mossy woods N. : a delicate little plant, 

 with roundish kidney-shaped doubly crenate leaves, and leafless scape (4' -6' 

 high) bearing a few greenish blossoms. 



14. CHRYSOSPLENIUM, GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE. (Name in 

 Greek means golden spleen.) Fl. spring. 2/ 



C. Americanum, our only species, in springs or shady wet places N. : 

 a low and delicate smooth herb, with spreading repeatedly forked stems, tender 

 succulent small leaves, which are roundish, obscurely crenatc-lobed, and mainly 

 opposite ; the inconspicuous greenish flowers nearly' sessile in the forks. 



41. CRASSULACEJE, ORPINE FAMILY. 



Succulent plants, differing from the Saxifrage Family mainly in 

 the complete symmetry of the flowers, the sepals, petals, stamens, 

 and pistils equal in number, or the stamens of just double the num- 

 ber ; the pistils all separate and forming as many (mostly many- 

 seeded) little pods, except in Penthorum, where they are united 

 together. (Lessons, p. 86, fig. 1G8-171.) Penthorum, which is 

 not succulent, is just intermediate between this family and the fore- 

 going. Several are monopetalous, i. e. have their petals united 

 below into a cup or tube. 



1. Leaves not at all fleshy, but thin and membranaceous : the 5 ovaries united into 

 one b-horned 5-celltd pod: no scales behind the ovxries. 



1. PENTHORUM. Sepals 5. Petals 5, small, or usually none. Stamens 10. 



I 'oil opening by the falling away of the 5 beaks, many-seeded. Rarely the 

 parts are in sixes or sevens. 



2. Leaves thickened and succulent : ovaries separate, a minute scale behind each. 

 * Petals separate : se/xila nearly so or united at the base. 



2. SEMPKRVIVUM. Sepals, narrow petals, and pistils 6 -12 or even more, and 



stamens twice as many. Plants usually multiplying by leafv offsets, oa 

 which the leaves are crowded in close tufts like rosettes. 

 S&F 17 



